CHAPTER 20

His eyes snap back to mine as a scary, deep silence envelops us. My eyes are digging deeply into his, expecting an answer.

I can hear his heart hammering in his chest, often skipping a beat or too. But he doesn’t answer. Answer me, Lucas.

He takes a step back and shakes his head as he averts his gaze towards the wet marble tiles. Say something, please. Pull me out of my misery. If you don't want me, just say it.

Suddenly a pang of realisation strikes me. What if he is really ashamed of me? What will happen to the fragile hope he offered me? The hope of saving me from eternal darkess? Eternity is an awfully long time. No. No.

He takes one step towards me, until there is almost an inch of distance between our faces and he lifts up his right hand. And the next thing I hear is a loud smack.

The pain reflexes abruptly activate as the effect of the blow on my cheek flares up. Wait, what happened? I suddenly find my face averted towards the floor.

Did he slap me? He slapped me! Someone slapped Damian Godfrey. What the fuck—

I pull my face upwards as I face him, cupping my now reddened cheek with my hand. I spot him massaging his hand.

Did he hurt himself? I'm a fucking vampire, what was he thinking? Is he an idiot? Obviously he hurt his hand. What a ridiculous man.

I walk towards him but before I could move, he pushes me further towards the wall as he runs his hand through my hair, and kisses me. I can feel the anger seething through his veins, by the desperate kiss he offered me.

Once we break away, I'm utterly confused. I want an explanation. One employee of mine just slapped me as if I am some mad psycho on the loose and then he just kisses me like he has never felt my mouth on his. What does he want? What does he mean by doing this?

I open my mouth to say, "Lucas what the—" I stop in mid-sentence as he slaps me once more. This time on my other cheek. Fuck. No one has ever hit me like that. I again find my face averted towards the floor, as the cold water dripping from the shower, trickles down my back.

I am going to need a severe explanation for this kind of an unrestrained, wild behaviour. Why on the earth am I not fighting back? What happened to my karate skills? That man unmans me. Holy mother of toad.

He is massaging his hand again. God, now what do I do? I have to get some advil for this stupid guy right here. Yes, Luke can get it for me.

Without further inquiry, I turn off the shower as I grab a white towel hanging from the rack. Lucas takes a step towards me. Not another slap, Lucas. No.

He grabs my arm, as he gently strokes my cheek. Yeah, now he came to my rescue. Exasperating man. I scoff at the thought. It's a surprise that I'm letting him touch me at all.

"Does it hurt?" He scans me through his hooded eyes.

"Somewhat." I frown. Obviously it hurts. No one has hit me like that in centuries. Impossible man.

"I'm sorry." He carasses my cheek as he places a soft kiss on my lips.

"Are you?" For some reason, I highly doubt if he means it.

"No." He answers. As expected. I chuckle as I process the word with my brain.

"People say, you're Damian Godfrey. Brilliant, genius, controlling, blah blah blah. They never said you lacked common sense." His eyes glisten with humour.

"And what makes you say that, Mr. Carter? Because apparently, you're the one who slapped me twice without any possible reason and ended up hurting your hand." I pull him closer to me.

"Who the fuck told you that I was ashamed of you? What makes you think that? I couldn’t resist slapping you. I told my parents about you! You ass." He runs his hand through my hair.

Parents? He told his parents about me? I'm sure they don't approve. It's not a good sign, for fuck's sake.

"They approve." He answers my unasked question, when he sees the uncertainty flicker in my eyes.

I'm glad he told his parents about me then. I... like him so much. I smile at him, as he smiles back and kisses me.

"Let's get my stupid partner some Advil." I chuckle. He really is an impossible man.